A cloud of black powder smoke erupts from Bob Johnson's 1860 Colt .44-caliber revolver as he target shoots at the Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area shooting range. / Wes Johnson/News-Leader

Amid the deafening cracks and booms of high-power .308- and .30-06-caliber deer rifles, target shooter Bob Johnson and his Civil War-era pistol seem a bit out of place at the far end of the firing line.

It’s the day before firearms deer season opens in Missouri, and I’ve stopped in to see how things are going at the free Busiek State Forest shooting range about 20 minutes south of Springfield.

While other shooters cycle round after round through their modern bolt-action hunting rifles, Johnson patiently loads his black-powder revolver by hand, stuffing powder, patch and .44-caliber round lead ball into each chamber hole and pressing them in place with a lever mounted beneath the gun’s barrel. Just like they did in the “olden days.”

“This is an 1860 Colt Army revolver,” says Johnson, as he prepares to fire at a paper target 25 yards away. “It’s the kind of firearm they used in the Civil War. It’s very slow to load, but a cavalry soldier might carry two or three of these, fully loaded. Riding through a mass of single-shot rifles, these were pretty devastating.”

With earplugs in place, Johnson steps up to the line, cocks the revolver and touches off a round, blasting a cloud of white smoke into the air. He fires again and again, leaving a cluster of holes in the target barely bigger than a coffee can lid.

Like others at the range, Johnson said he appreciated having a place to shoot that’s reasonably close to town and with amenities — free paper targets, concrete shooting benches and 25-, 50- and 100-yard target distances — available to shooters.

Operated by the Missouri Department of Conservation, the Busiek range is unmanned, meaning participants are on their own to ensure their safety because there’s no range officer to step in and enforce good behavior.

I talked with Warren Rose, conservation department outreach and education regional supervisor, about the range and what people should know before they venture onto the firing line.

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If you search Google for “Busiek shooting range” you’ll find more than a few disgruntled shooters who ding the range because of improper behavior they say they’ve witnessed.

Rose, however, said the range was designed to be a safe place for target shooters to practice.

“But bottom line, people have to use common sense and be safe,” Rose said. “These ranges were designed to help hunters sight in their rifles, and in turn they help us manage our wildlife. I’d say Busiek is the most heavily used unmanned range in southwest Missouri, if not in the entire state.”

Deer hunters Kristy Robertson and her husband, Grayson, drove to Busiek from their home in Republic to sight in their Savage bolt-action rifles ahead of deer season opening day.

“Without living in the country anymore, people don’t have places to go shoot, especially right before deer season,” Kristy said, as she readied her .308-caliber rifle for some practice shots. “For this range to be so close and for it to be free, that’s all the better.”

A deer hunter for the past 11 years, Kristy said she was successful “most of the time.”

“I got introduced to hunting when I first moved to Missouri 15 years ago,” she said. “At first I was just a guest or a spectator. I really like the meat, too, but it’s mostly for the experience of being outdoors. I have taken a 10 point and an 8 point, which I thought was pretty impressive.”

Her husband sighted in his .30-06 Savage rifle at the 100-yard range, lying flat on the ground and using bipod arms attached to the stock for stability. He took several shots, but only needed the first one to verify his rifle was set up correctly.

“Right in the center, first shot,” he said. “I like the way these Savages feel. They’re comfortable and don’t kick like a mule. It’s a fairly cheap gun but with good accuracy.”

Neither Grayson nor Kristy said they felt unsafe at the Busiek range. Fellow shooters offered Kristy some tips, and one provided a rolled-up jacket to protect her left arm from recoil rash against the concrete shooting bench.

“We’re going to go deer hunting Saturday morning,” the younger George said, proudly showing his targets with holes mostly within a 4-inch circle.

They planned to head to the Truman Lake area for junior’s first deer hunt.

“The SKS, it’s cheap and just as good as a .30-30,” the elder George said. “There won’t be any long shots — I won’t let him shoot anything that’s over 100 yards away or anything that’s running. I’ll show him how to pay attention in the woods, how to respect the woods.”

As for the Busiek range, Grandpa George described it as “awesome.”

“You can shoot at your leisure, and it’s fairly close to us in Springfield,” he said. “We like that it’s free. If they ever decide to charge a fee, we’d pay it.”

Where to shoot?

The Missouri Department of Conservation maintains five staffed shooting ranges in the state.

• The closest staffed range is the Andy Dalton Shooting Range at Bois D’Arc. The 100-yard rifle/pistol range has 20 booths, $3 per hour per booth. It has a trap/skeet range, $3 per person per 25 targets, and a shotgun patterning range, at $3 per hour. There also is an archery range, at $3 per person per hour. Call 417-742-4361 or go online at http://mdc.mo.gov/regions/southwest/andy-dalton-shooting-range" alt="" title="" target="_blank">http://mdc.mo.gov/regions/southwest/andy-dalton-shooting-range.

• MDC also maintains free unstaffed shooting ranges in many Missouri counties. They close on Mondays for maintenance but are open the rest of the week, sunrise to sunset. Paper targets only. Some free ranges near Springfield include the two-lane Pleasant Hope Conservation Area range off H highway, a mile and a half south of Pleasant Hope, 417-895-6880; and Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area, three lanes, 18 miles south of Springfield on U.S. 65, 417-895-6880.

Shooting range rules and etiquette

So what are the rules of the range, if you’re a first-timer or veteran at Busiek? Warren Rose, a conservation department outreach and education regional supervisor, says:

• Don’t load any firearms until you’re at the firing line ready to shoot. “Maintain muzzle control at all times,” he added, keeping it pointed in a safe direction.

• After shooting, put your unloaded firearm — with the action open — in the wooden racks provided behind the shooting benches. “That’s why we have gun racks, so guns aren’t laying on the benches pointing downrange when people are down changing targets.”

• Before putting up or checking targets, shout “Downrange” or “Cease fire” to other shooters, and make sure everyone on the firing line acknowledges. No one should fire a gun when anyone is downrange.

• If someone does start to shoot when people are downrange, “yell at that person to stop” and report him or her to the MDC or call 911 if they refuse.

• MDC provides free paper targets, and rubber webbing to attach them downrange. Shooters can bring their own paper targets, but nothing else. It’s not just a matter of trash, Rose says. Shooting at cardboard boxes or bottles on the ground can cause bullets to ricochet beyond the dirt berms. Bullets fired at properly affixed paper targets will plow into the backstop and not ricochet. Plus it’s the law that only paper targets must be attached to provided target holders.

• Remove used targets and pick up empty cartridge shells to help keep the range clean for the next shooter.

• No armor-piercing or tracer rounds are allowed, nor are .50-caliber BMG rifles because of the damage the large bullets cause to target webs and dirt berms.

• Only shoot from the established shooting line at the benches. No one should ever shoot in front of the benches.